On 15th August 2020, on the occasion of the 74th Independence day, Conrad K Sangma, Chief Minister of Meghalaya launched the restart Meghalaya Mission worth Rs. 14,515 crore to revive the development activities which were stalled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Restart Meghalaya Mission:
i.This mission was based on the recommendations on the short, medium and long term measures to revive the state’s economy, by the Chief Minister’s Task Force on Economy.
ii.The Mission consists of a series of programmes to support the farmers and entrepreneurs of the state to build a growth promoting basic infrastructure.
Key Points:
i.Rs. 14,515 crore will be used under this mission for the next three years out of which Rs. 7,839 crore has been designated for 2020-2021.
ii.CM Sangma announced 6 projects under the Restart Meghalaya mission, which includes agriculture and its allied sector, promoting livelihood in rural areas.
iii.The total investments of Rs.8753 crore will be used for the infrastructure and 13 major roads of length around 350 Kilometer at an estimated cost of Rs.850 crores.
iv.This mission will also involve the tourism sector which benefits around 50000 people.
v.The state government will adopt a high value low volume tourism model and plans to increase the number of high value rooms from 200 to at least 500 in the next two years.
vi.Since the private investment will be affected due to COVID-19 situation, the government will make an investment of around Rs.200 crore to create high value accommodation.
vii.Around 400 agri-entrepreneurs will be provided with power tillers with 50 per cent subsidy which costs around Rs.4 crore.
Other initiatives:
i.The State government will focus on the agriculture sector to become one of the best performers in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) programme. The expenditure of MGNREGA is expected to reach Rs 1600 crore.
ii.Under the Chief Minister’s Support programme, one time grant support of upto Rs. 10000 for new small business loans of upto Rs.50000 for small business and entrepreneurs will be provided.
iii.The government is working to double the number of Kisan Credit Card(KCC) holders from 86000 within the next one year.
iv.The government decided to make an interest subvention of 2% on timely repayment of KCC loans.
v.Under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, around 47000 houses will be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs.611 crore.
About Meghalaya:
Shillong of Meghalaya is also known as the Scotland of East.
Wildlife Sanctuary:
- Nokrek National Park (Biosphere Reserve)
- Balpakram National Park
- Baghmara Reserve Forest
- Siju Bird Sanctuary
- Nongkhyllem Wildlife Sanctuary
